The first Russian biography of Pope John Paul II (1920–2005), written on the basis of unique archival materials. This is a story about one of the most brilliant and extraordinary politicians of the 1970s–1980s of the last century, who significantly influenced the course of world history. From the book, the reader will learn how the Roman Catholic Church was led by a Slav for the first time in history and what he changed in it. What is the role of the Pope in the collapse of the socialist camp and who was behind the Turkish terrorist who shot the pontiff in 1981. How and why John Paul II established dialogue with other religions and whether he entered into a secret alliance with Ronald Reagan. Did the Vatican influence Italian politics and what does mafia money have to do with it? Did the pontiff approve of the bombing of Yugoslavia and the invasion of Iraq? How John Paul II assessed the world after the Cold War and why he opposed the European bureaucracy. What he thought about feminism, free love and sexual minorities. Did the head of the Apostolic Capital know about the scale of pedophilia among the clergy and how he dealt with the guilty. What attracted the pontiff to Russia and why he never visited it. Vadim Volobuev is a historian and political scientist, senior researcher at the Department of Contemporary History of Central and South-Eastern Europe at the Institute of Slavic Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences.